Jim James gives Philadelphia an exclusive peek

With a four-piece band behind him, loaded up with bass, drums, keyboards, laptops and rows and rows of guitar pedals, Jim James barely had enough room to dance as he kicked off his solo tour Monday with a 90-minute show at the cozy, 250-person Johnny Brenda’s in Philadelphia.

Still, the My Morning Jacket frontman found enough space to do the The Twist as his band jammed on at the end of “A New Life,” which began as a quiet, meditative plea before swelling into retro soul swirl — one of the best songs on his new, nine-track solo debut, “Regions of Light and Sound of God.”

With the streets of Fishtown unusually quiet thanks to President’s Day, the giddiness of the crowd lined up outside to get into the exclusive show was even more striking: the man whose band has sold out the country’s biggest arenas and will be headlining Carnegie Hall on Thursday was now holding court at one of Philadelphia’s smallest and most beautiful rooms.

And James, decked out in a suit and tie, didn’t let them down. He ran through the new album in order, taking his most fervent fans on a trip down his funk- and soul-filled rabbit hole as he danced and leaned into the faces of his fans to personally deliver lines at times. It was that intimacy that made this ticket so coveted. One fan who traveled from New Orleans for the show paid more than quadruple the $25 ticket price on on online ticket site to get in the door.

The album’s closer — and James’ final song before the encore — was “God’s Love to Deliver,” which was transformed by a 10-minute, fuzzed-out closing jam with James playing saxophone before scurrying to the side of the stage, strapping on a guitar and exploding with an extended solo.

Since James was front and center with only a microphone in his hand for most of the new material, only touching his mounted Gibson Flying V sparingly, the avalanche of squeal was the main set’s knock-out punch.

James’ admission that the band was “working out the kinks” and “doing things we’ve never done before” seemed more of a humble brag on this well-executed night of psychedelic, soulful grooves.

After a pair of small Brooklyn shows and his Carnegie Hall show this week, James rests up for the full “Regions” tour, which starts on April 17 in James’ hometown of Louisville, Ky. before landing in Philadelphia once again April 27 at Union Transfer.

For an encore, James unfurled a five-song string My Morning Jacket favorites, starting with a solo acoustic rendition of “Wonderful.” After “Wordless Chorus,” the smoke machine kicked in and James exclaimed, “It’s hot in here.” He then launched a triple attack of “It Beats For You,” the funk-drenched “Touch Me I’m Going To Scream Part 2” and the night’s closer, the appropriately titled “Victory Dance.”

Before leaving, he had some Philadelphia-themed shout-outs to dispense with. After calling Johnny Brenda’s a “beautiful place,” he singled out Philadelphia indie rockers Dr. Dog, noting that he samples an obscure of theirs, “Fat Dog” on his new song “Of the Mother Again,” looping its waterfall guitar line.

James said he got a soundboard recording of the unreleased song from a Dr. Dog set when they opened for My Morning Jacket years ago and dropped a sample of it throughout his song.

“I was obsessed with that song,” James said of Dr. Dog, which has been named as one of the 70 acts for this year’s Firefly Music Festival in Dover. “I made a loop of it and played it over and over again and started writing this song to it. So I’d like to give props to those guys.”

About Ryan Cormier

News Journal features reporter Ryan Cormier throws everything pop culture into a blender and hits frappe. Check out his take on music, movies, celebrities and everything in between. It's what you need to know and a lot more stuff you really don't. Join him on Twitter and Facebook.

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